


Let's Chase the Sad Away

by flowerpetal



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst I guess, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-01-22
Packaged: 2018-03-08 16:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3215093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerpetal/pseuds/flowerpetal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A one shot about late night phone calls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let's Chase the Sad Away

**Author's Note:**

> I probably hurt myself more with ideas for this than I'm going to hurt anyone else.
> 
> Dedication goes to viria for making the terribly angst art that made me write this.

Hinata pulls the covers over his head, resting his body against the soft sheets underneath him as his eyes are covered by the little volleyball patterned futon. His phone is in his right hand, held in front of his face so the ornaments on it dingle behind it while one of his fingers stabilizes it, preventing it from falling over. The sound of the keyboard echoes through his room, bouncing off the walls and back to its source in an endless circle, until it fades into silence. 

He texts Kageyama for a while at first, a habit he’s recently gotten into, asking him questions about spikes and tosses and volleyball what-nots, especially next day’s practice. 

When Kageyama’s gone off to bed, saying his mind needed rest after so much talk with an energetic shortie, Hinata opens the contacts folder and messes around with the order of the names, his eyes finally settling over Kenma's name.

It’s not been a very long time since he’d last talked to Kenma, but texts are different than calls and Hinata finds himself almost missing the way his friend’s voice wavers when they talk too late at night and he’s tired out of his wits. It’s already later than the usual time of their calls – much, much later – but something tells him Kenma isn’t one to go to bed early.

Hinata pushes the covers back down to his neck, looks around quickly to see if anyone is in his room and when he sees no one there, proceeds to swing one of his arms around his pillow, clutching at the material and faces the ceiling. When in a position comfortable enough, he looks at his phone again, scrolling up and down for a while longer. In the end, he takes a deep breath before pressing the _call_ button next to Kenma’s name.

 

The phone rings the first time.

Hinata presses it closer to his ear.

It rings the second time.

His legs crouch into a different position.

 It rings the third time.

His heart speeds up.

 

On the fourth ring, someone picks up.

“Shouyou?”

“Kenma! How are you?!” Hinata almost shouts into the phone, the joy of hearing his friend's voice after such a long time unintentionally bursting through what was supposed to be a calm facade. He quiets down quickly after, remembering he’s supposed to be asleep and ends up closing his mouth completely in the end, so he doesn't accidentally say something else with a volume turned up so high that it could wake up his parents and Natsu.

“Fine . . . Shouyou, you do realize what time it is?”

Kenma’s voice is smooth and calming and it makes butterflies flutter around in Hinata’s stomach as he fidgets in excitement.

“Sorry, sorry, did I wake you up? I really didn't mean to, but I was getting really impatient since you haven't responding to my texts lately and I just thought maybe I'd call? If I'm bothering you I can hang up I guess, if you want me to. . .”

“. . . Don't.”

“That’s good then! What were you doing up by the way? It’s not exactly the time to be awake, unless you've been playing games again. You know Kenma, you really shouldn't do things like that when you have school the next day, it's not exactly healthy." Hinata says, though he knows inside it’s quite unreasonable of him to ask something like that since he is up too and he was the one who called.

“I was thinking actually." 

“Oh?” He stops fidgeting and listens to the speaker so carefully that he can catch the smallest of his sighs.

"About you.”

"Ah, is that a good thing?"

"Kind of . . ." 

The sentence disappears into silence. It's a comfortable silence, one Hinata knows they can both enjoy sometimes, so he doesn't speak up and waits for Kenma to initiate the conversation instead.

“Will you ever come back to Tokyo, Shouyou?” Kenma’s voice shakes with every word almost like he’s on the verge of crying his heart out. For a moment, Hinata doesn't know what to answer, especially not to someone who sounds so sad and desperate.

“O-Of course I will! You know the next training camp starts in a few weeks don't you? I have this really cool new spike I learnt last week that I want to show you, and I might even get Kageyama to let me use it in one of the games! I'll even show it off when we play against Nekoma if that's what you want, but you should know it's going to be unstoppable!” Hinata ends up saying excitedly. He had been looking forward to this camp since their last game with Nekoma, when they had lost against their fated rivals yet again.

He wouldn't lose this time though, not again. Hinata had a sleeve full of new tricks and he was planning to learn even more when at training camp.

The excited smile that had formed on his face fades slowly when Kenma doesn't say anything back for a while and he's left with silence again.

“Oh right, of course," comes the answer finally. "Training camp.”

Hinata only now notices the strange distance that has built up in Kenma’s voice. There’s something off about his manner of speaking too and it bothers him to say that it sounds as if there is a burden much greater than distance or school or even volleyball straining his shoulders. The way Kenma pronounces the words training camp is too angry, too passionate for the usual way Kenma talks. Hinata notices quickly that something is wrong, but no matter how much he tries, he can't classify it under a single set of problems.

_(In reality, he just isn’t perceptive enough to notice it’s jealousy that’s tainting the setter’s voice at the mention of volleyball, because Kenma thinks Hinata loves volleyball more than he could ever love him.)_

“Huh? Is everything alright Kenma? Are you sick or something, is there anything I can do?”

“. . . Won’t you come to Tokyo, Shouyou?” Kenma repeats his question.

“I just told you, I am coming! The training camp is in, what, two weeks? It's not that long away, is it?”  

Hinata's heart beats faster with every breath, confusion setting into his chest and straining it with chains of fear and anxiety. Had something happened to Kenma?

Even so, he keeps his voice enthusiastic, though the smile once spread across his features hasn't shown up in a while. He probably seems happy to anyone who can't see him - which Kenma can't - but in reality he's feeling worse than ever. His mind can't comprehend what his best friend is going through to have become like this, doesn’t have the ability to pick up feelings from voice and words alone, but he would very much like to fix it, even though he has no idea where to start.

“Not like that, I don't mean it like that," Kenma's words turn into mumbles ". . . Shouyou, would you come to Tokyo to - to see me?”

Hinata's eyes widen. 

This is strange, even stranger when it's Kenma asking, though he supposes the idea of the request isn't as unexpected as the request itself. It makes Hinata more confused, creates new questions that can't (and won't) be answered, fussing with his volleyball-centred brain like a compass arrow out of tune. 

What could’ve happened to put Kenma in a state like this, so . . . well, is there even a word for it, when it's Kenma? 

Hinata grabs onto the pillow tighter and swings to the side, turning his body so he can rest his arm while talking. His tongue rushes out to wet his dry and scratchy lips before he starts talking again, trying to salvage what was left of the happy mood in the conversation - if there ever was any.

“T-to s-see... _you?_ I - I -" The words spilling out of Hinata's mouth are messy, the stutter from his childhood coming back to haunt him and his body feels like it might explode with pain of not understanding a thing.

Hinata has no idea how to answer his friend’s request yet again, but something tells him there’s only one way Kenma wants him to answer it.

“It is unreasonable to ask it of you. I thought it would be. Forget about it.”

Hinata’s heart feels like it’s being poked with a hot poker when his ears catch onto the sadness that has installed itself into Kenma’s voice. It’s almost as if Nekoma’s setter is desperate to have him by his side, or anyone really, but it's so hard to talk about it when they're miles apart.

He answeres the only way he knows, the only way he can hope for Kenma to feel better and the only way that might still the rushing heart in his chest.

“No, no, I’ll come for sure! When . . . Well, when should I come?”

 

“Tonight.”

 

Hinata's heart stops completely.

“T-tonight? B-but Kenma, don't you think that's uh I don't know, a bit early maybe? it takes hours to get to Tokyo and my parents are already asleep, though I suppose I could bike. That would take much longer though, I doubt I'd get there before tomorrow. I - I'm really sorry Kenma, I just -” Hinata is shaking on his bed, just like Kenma’s voice and he can barely contain his tears when the apologies come streaming out.

_(He can’t see how his best friend is curled up on a bed in a similar position to his in a big sweater and Nekoma sweatpants that have become a constancy in his life, hugging his pillow so tightly his arms are cramping up while he talks into the phone, wishing the distance was non-existent.)_

“See, I told you it was unreasonable. I’m sorry.”

Suddenly it dawns on Hinata, that Kenma is probably not upset over the fact he can't come to Tokyo. If he thought it was unreasonable in the beginning and he still asked, there must be something else plaguing his mind and because Hinata doesn't know exactly how to ask what that something is he ends up shooting it out straight and bold.

“Kenma, what’s really wrong? It’s not just me not being able to come to Tokyo that’s bothering you, is it?” The moment the question slips past his lips, Hinata covers his mouth with his hand, hoping Kenma won't feel offended. He feels like everything he does is wrong, everything he says is either too aggressive or too passive to help Kenma out. 

“I just . . . I had a really bad day,” Kenma sobs.

His words are muffled and the gapped silence between the words is putting Hinata under even more pressure without knowing it. A tear slips out of each of their eyes – one wipes it away, the other lets it trickle down his cheek.

“Wanna talk about it?” Hinata asks after a long pause. "I - I mean you don't have to if you don't want to, I just thought I'd ask since that's what Suga usually says when Kageyama or Yamaguchi are feeling down and I thought it was the right thing to do so I . . ."

Hinata manages to shut himself up when Kenma doesn't answer immediately, giving his best friend some time to think. The trail of the tear on his cheek has dried steadily, all that is left is the wetness on the back of his hand and a salty residue on his face. He still doesn’t know what to say.

“No," comes the final reply. "I don't want to talk about it."

“Okay then uh . . . Want to talk about something else? There's this new shop in town I've been wanting to tell you about that has the best meatbuns and even Kageyama said so, y'know? So I guess they must be good. I haven't been there myself since I had a cold when the team went, but Suga promised me we'd go again soon and then Nishinoya was all _gyaah_ because apparently there's a pretty girl who works there and-”

“Shouyou . . .” Kenma trails off, effectively stopping Hinata's ramble.

“Yeah?” 

“Could you hug me?”

“I - I - I don’t understand!" Hinata’s confusion returns in nauseating waves that wash over him, getting higher and higher with distress."How am I supposed to hug you through a phone?! Is there a way to do that? Can I go all _whaaa_ and hug my phone and then your phone will hug you for me or something?”

Kenma chuckles and Hinata's whole face lights up when he hears his best friend laugh. It's a talent, he likes to think, to make someone laugh at a time like this.

“When you come to Tokyo, I mean. Could you hug me?” 

The statement clears up the mess of spiderwebbed thoughts in Hinata’s mind which makes him smile, his face radiating positive energy, secretly hoping Kenma will catch onto it and smile more.

"Yes! Yes, of course, no doubt about it, why would you even ask that?!”

“Thank you,” Kenma responds.

_(He's trying his best to stay as happy as the chuckle made him appear, really, really trying, but Hinata is pressing one of his ears so forcefully against the phone though, that Kenma's efforts to try and sound happy get washed down the drain immediately when Hinata catches onto the wrecked sobs coming from his throat.)_

“I love you!” Hinata shouts suddenly, flinching as close to the phone’s speaker as possible, completely forgetting he's supposed to keep quiet, though it's probably too late by now already, since his parents have surely woken up.

“Huh?”

Kenma’s crying stops for a moment which Hinata can tell from the absence of the buzzing background noises and the act is put on again.

“I love you Kenma, I really do! I love you more than Kageyama loves volleyball if it's possible and you’re my best friend and - and I would do anything for you! You don’t have to say that you love me back, I just want you to know that I love you and I really can't wait until training camp so we can train together and I can go all _fuyaaah_  again when you send me one of your tosses. And then maybe we can go for ice cream, I'll pay of course, and then you can toss to me some more and we can stay up late and - well, I just want you to know I love you and I won't leave you alone!”

Hinata doesn’t care about his parents waking up at this point, he doesn’t care that they’ll probably punish him for staying up late or waking up Natsu, all he cares about is Kenma and how he should never feel like he has no one to go to again as long as he’s by his side.

“Best. . .f-friend. Shouyou I - thank you. I. . .I love you too.”

_(The grip on their pillows lessens, the sadness drifts into the air. As long as they have each-other, they will be okay and even Kenma can surely stand a friendly ‘I love you’ for now, as long as he is certain he’ll get a much more meaningful one out of Hinata one day.)_

**Author's Note:**

> you can also find me on [tumblr](http://teikalliste.tumblr.com/)


End file.
